Que Pasa in Cabo?

O (dead) Christmas tree Don’t kick your Christmas tree to the curb! That’s uncool, even if your neighbor does do it. And if they do, what kind of neighborhood are you living in?

The Los Cabos government has set up legitimate sites for your dead Christmas tree, which you paid so much money for and lavished so much time on, and now it looks pathetic. Well, get off the couch, Bunky, and take it down, it’s a fire hazard.

In Cabo, there are two disposal sites. One is the traditional temporary dump site at the top of Morelos street (the “up” street), where it turns left. The site is well known to locals and old timers, as it used to be the military base in town. And it used to be where the circus set up. The second site is right next to the city’s government delegation building, next to the Red Cross.

In San Jose, the dumping sites are at the Public Services office in the Guaymitas barrio, inside the police headquarters across from Soriana, and also on Centenario Avenue, somewhere along that stretch. The girl at the office couldn’t give us better directions. Just troll down the street, it’s not long, you’re bound to see it. The sites will be open until January 31.

Party announcement! Painters and former art gallery owners Chris MacCLure and Marilyn Hurst are planning a party. They’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of the 3 Amigos art exhibit at the Country Club. Paintings from Canadian artists, including seascape artist Jonn Einerssen, Vancouver native Brent Heighton and Chris MacClure himself, will be on display. All three artists have quite the ex-pat following.

The party will be actually two parties, held at the Old Town gallery in San Jose, on Alvaro Obregon street. The parties will be from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. on January 25th and February 1st, during San Jose’s Thursday night art walk. Oh, and Marilyn says there will be cake, yet another reason to go. She was hazy on the adult beverage situation.

Start training The next Ironman 70.3 competition will take place in Los Cabos – mostly in San Jose – on Saturday, November 4. Registration is now open. The cost is $300 if you register before March 1, for more information visit www.ironman.com. Yeah, this is our very early warning system. And, some of you couch potatoes are going to need 10 months to practice putting one foot in front of another, so get on it.

Half marathon coming up This race has three categories: the half marathon and 5k and 10k races. It will take place on Sunday, February 11 starting at the main plaza in downtown San Jose, and continue through downtown, the hotel zone and along the San Jose marina.

Participants’ kits can be picked up on Saturday, February 10th at the Holiday Inn in San Jose from 11:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. To sign up, visit their website, www.loscaboshalfmarathon.com.

My daughter Daniella will be participating, so I will see you there!

Another party! The 6th Annual San Jose Jazz Weekend will take place February 16th and 17th at Plaza Del Pescador, across from the Cabo Azul resort in the San Jose hotel area. There will be live bands performing from 5:00 to 11:00 p.m. each night. Listen to the musicians while enjoying dinner at one the various restaurants in the strip mall. They close down one side of the street so they can set up extra tables on the pavement and erect a stage. It’s best to reserve your table in advance or you will end up sitting on the curb with a plate in your lap. Visit www.plazadelpescador.com for more information.

Oh Gawd, more parties! The Mayan Palace in San Jose (which recently changed its name to Vidanta Resort) is throwing a party to celebrate the opening of the new Omnia club within the resort

International, famous (among millennials) DJs Calvin Harris, Steve Aoki and Zedd will be performing from February 23rd to the 25th.

Most of the parties will be private, but a limited number of tickets will be for sale through their website, www.omnialoscabos.com.

The best place to visit The New York times named The East Cape and the Los Cabos corridor as one of the 52 best places to visit. Mentioned in the article are the Chileno Bay resort, Acre restaurant in San Jose and the Four Seasons at Costa Palmas, even though that won’t be open until later this year. Well, does that suggest these things are all rigged to push the big names?

Los Cabos was number 11 on the list, following places like New Orleans, Colombia, Glasgow, Scotland, Cincinnati, the Gangwon Province in South Korea and the Route of Parks in Chile. South Korea? Who goes to Korea? Oh, the Olympics are coming up.

Bloomberg also listed Los Cabos as one of its 22 top places to visit. The Four Seasons at Costa Palmas must have a hell of a PR agency, because it was mentioned in this article as well, along with the Ritz Carlton’s high-end Zadun resort. The $50 million airport renovation at Los Cabos International also got a nod. No mention of the less than spiffy restrooms at the airport.

New kids in town The first newborn baby whales of the season have been spotted at Ojo de Liebre lagoon, which is north of Los Cabos. According to experts, there will be 650 new baby whales born in the area by the end of April. (Who becomes an expert on how many baby whales are born and why do they make that career choice?)

A total of 2,000 whales – including the newborns – are expected to winter here. They will travel back to Alaska in the spring, a 7,000 mile round trip, just to bask in our warm waters.

Hey, restaurant owners! We have learned that credit card cloning is rampant in Cabo.

The sting goes somewhat like this: The cloners convince a rogue waiter to let them take a credit card processing machine home for the night and return it the next day. A hundred dollars is the usual payment for this sell out of their boss. All the credit card information that has been processed that day on that machine will be stolen before they bring it back the next morning. Better check those statements, but that doesn’t always tell you everything, as the thieves will often not use your info for several days, weeks, or even months.

The band of bad guys are Romanians, the politically correct name for gypsies. A couple of them were caught but they bought off the courts, and are back in business. No wonder the police don’t bust their bums.

Convention center opening soon Or so they say. Genaro Ruiz, the state’s secretary of tourism, said the new management company hired to run the Los Cabos Convention Center is currently working to repair the damage Hurricane Odile caused almost four years ago. Sheesh, even for Mexico, that’s a long time to wait for repairs. The thing was built in 2002. Now that’s a long time to wait to market it. Sigh.

Ruiz said the convention center will be up and running in the second quarter of this year, although he didn’t say whether or not we have already some meetings scheduled for the near future. Many conventions are planned many years ahead. Like, five years ahead. So don’t hold your breath on anything happening soon.

Resort changes hands The Mar Adentro resort in San Jose, which was designed and formerly owned by Mexican architect Miguel Angel Aragonés, will now be known as Viceroy Los Cabos, operated by the Viceroy Hotel Group.

Viceroy Los Cabos is the brand’s first collaboration with Rodina Group, an investment firm that acquired the hotel in December. You can check out their website for more info at www.viceroyhotelsandresorts.com/loscabos.

More flights to Cabo This month, we will welcome new flights from Milwaukee and Los Angeles, onboard my fav Mexican airline, Interjet. Both flights will be inaugurated with the traditional water spray from the Los Cabos fire department, with government and business officials and the press there to celebrate.